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An evaluation of America’s Schools in the 21st Century.Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:11:36 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1Statistics – Did you know?http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wherewestand/blog/statistics-did-you-know/310/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wherewestand/blog/statistics-did-you-know/310/#commentsFri, 19 Sep 2008 15:57:36 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wherewestand/?p=310WHERE WE STAND: AMERICA’S SCHOOLS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Fact Sheet

In 1995, the U.S. ranked #1 in the world in college graduation rate. In 2005, it was 15th.1

Out of 30 developed countries, U.S. students rank 25th in math and 21st in science.2

U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives most states a C, D, or F in preparing kids for the workplace. 3

In 1970, the average college graduate earned around 45% more than a high-school graduate, today the gap is 84%.4

The U.S. spends 7.4% of its gross domestic product on education. It ranks at the bottom worldwide in percentage of federal spending on education.5

Last year, the U.S. spent $489.4 billion to educate an estimated 49.6 million K-12 students in public school.6

24 out of 50 states spend less per pupil in low income districts than affluent ones. 45 out of 50 states have had lawsuits over school funding.7

While 40% of U.S. high schools do not offer college prep classes, 1.2 million high school students took Advanced Placement (AP) exams in 2005, more than twice the number in 1997.8

87% of Americans have finished high school before their 30th birthday. 30% have bachelor’s degrees.9

That’s the idea behind the United Federation of Teachers Elementary and Secondary Charter Schools in East New York, Brooklyn. Created in 2005, the schools are the first in the nation to totally involve the United Federation of Teachers, New York’s union of professional educators. The result, supporters say, is an inspiring community environment on the cutting-edge of educational reform.

While a union-run charter school might sound like a contradiction in terms, UFT president and AFT vice president Randi Weingarten has defended the concept – noting that the UFT doesn’t oppose charter schools, it opposes those which don’t honor its collective bargaining agreement. She also says the union used New York City’s chartering process to show that it could put together a school on public school resources that honors this agreement, and at the same time, encourages professional development for teachers.

The UFT’s first charter school opened its doors to kindergartners and first grade students in September 2005. Since then, its expanded to include students through third grade. The UFT also opened a secondary-level charter school in Fall 2006 – a school so popular among local parents that it received over 1,000 applications. It also made a strong impression on teachers – attracting more than 800 applicants for its 18 staff positions.

What makes these union schools different, other than teacher involvement and governance? According to supporters, it’s the ability to promote an intensive, well-rounded curriculum – one that includes science, social studies, physical education and the arts – and to control factors like class size and teacher-student ratios.

At the UFT schools, there are two teachers in every classroom – from kindergarten through the second grade. The class sizes are all low – between 20 and 25 students – to ensure individualized attention. Students are also prepared for life-long personal responsibility, required to participate in weekly school and community service programs. Another bonus of the school, its teachers say, is the ability to take risks in the classroom – because they are covered by the UFT contract.

The UFT schools also boast a high-tech environment – with each classroom featuring several computer stations, wireless Internet access, and mobile computers that can be moved from class to class.

The UFT hopes the school will serve as a blueprint for the creation of more union-run schools nationwide.

Arizona:KAET and Arizona Learning First Alliance are working together to arrange a follow-up discussion in every district of the state after the broadcast.

California:KOCE, Huntington Beach, is hosting a town hall forum with the Superintendent of Schools.

Florida:WEDU will be airing a follow-up local issues show with school board members discussing local education issues. It will air immediately following Where We Stand on 9/18 at 10:00 pm. Where We Stand and the follow-up show will re-broadcast on 9/21, beginning at 3:00 pm.

Illinois:WSIU will be including the program in their various institutes in October.

Kansas:KTWU and the Kansas Learning First Alliance are hosting several events including a survey asking viewers their opinions about issues addressed in the show. Statewide town hall meetings will be planned to discuss various, pertinent education issues in Kansas.

Michigan:WKAR and the Education Alliance of Michigan are planning to co-host an event. Check website for details.

WGVU will air a follow-up show after the broadcast addressing these issues on a local level.

New York:WSKG is planning a community dialogue event and a follow-up radio show on WSKG Radio.

Ohio:WBGU, Bowling Green, is hosting a discussion at the Way Public Library, in Perrysburg on Thursday, September 18th. The one-hour program will be shown at the library at 10:30am, followed by the discussion at 11:30am.

WOSU, Columbus, is hosting a local viewing party the night of broadcast at WOSU’s studio.

Fremont: Join Birchard Public Library on Thursday, September 25 for the return of the PBS Program Club Thursday for a viewing and discussion of Where We Stand: America’s Schools in the 21st Century. Where We Stand will be shown in the meeting room at 11 a.m. with discussion to follow from noon to 1 p.m.

Rhode Island:WSBE is partnering with the Rhode Island Learning First Alliance and educators to host an event addressing the issues of the show. They will also be doing a local follow-up show airing after Where We Stand on September 25th at 8 p.m. Check local listings.

South Dakota:South Dakota Public Television is planning community outreach as well as creating a local follow-up show on South Dakota Focus to air on October 23rd, following a re-broadcast of Where We Stand. The local show will discuss schools in South Dakota and their status on each of the core areas highlighted in Where We Stand. Guests will include members of the South Dakota Department of Education. Check your local listings for the time.

Texas:KLRN, San Antonio, will be hosting educators in a special follow-up discussion on in the virtual world, Second Life, on Thursday, September 18 at 8 p.m. CST (9 p.m. EST). Located in Second Life at the ISTE Island Campfire rings. Hosted by KLRN School Services and the International Society for Technology in Education.

Utah:KUED will be hosting a screening October 7th followed by a panel discussion. Where We Stand will also be part of a series KUED is doing in partnership with the SLC Film Center, “Films to see before you Vote.”

West Virginia:
The West Virginia Learning First Alliance will co-host an event with West Virginia Public Television, inviting the community to discuss issues addressed in the show.

Wisconsin:WHA, Madison, is hosting a screening with a follow-up discussion in mid-November. Details will be posted on their website closer to the event.

Wyoming:KCWC will be airing a local show, Report Card to Wyoming, followed by Where We Stand on 9/18 at 7:00pm.

“I really worry about…some students in our school…I think they need to work hard…They need to catch up with other generations in the world – like Asia.”

Hailing from a town of more than 3 million people outside Beijing, Chinese teacher Bin Che came to the United States on a foreign language teaching program. At first, he says Belpre, Ohio – a small town on the border of West Virginia – was not what he expected. Having watched many movies featuring American cities like New York and Las Vegas, Belpre – which sits on the banks of the Ohio River – seemed sleepy. But Bin says he made a lot of friends in his year teaching in Ohio, and learned a lot about American schools. Despite the energy of his students, Bin says he thinks they need to study harder to keep up with students in the rest of the world.

ROGER LEMLEY
Graduate of Belpre High School
Belpre, Ohio

“I’m hoping to be a Chinese interpreter… that’ll be kind of cool. And then I can work down in Washington with the Chinese Ambassadors, or I can go to China and be an American Ambassador. All kinds of stuff like that.”

A recent graduate of Belpre High School, Roger was a star student in Bin Che’s Chinese class. He loved the language so much, he says, that he hoped to study it in college. But even if he attended a state school, Roger says the cost was prohibitive. So, the 18-year-old decided to join the Marines. Just two weeks after graduation, he shipped off to boot camp in Paris Island, South Carolina. After that, he’ll attend the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where he hopes to earn a degree in Chinese. Then what? Roger says he loves life in Belpre, and might return. But career opportunities in the town, which is feeling the pinch of globalization, are scarce. Even Roger’s mother, Lisa Fought, says her son would have a better chance at success elsewhere. “The way the economy is now – if you don’t have an education, you have nothing,” she says. “You have to have a high school diploma to even work at McDonald’s nowadays. And working at McDonald’s is not going to pay rent. It’s not going to pay your utilities.”

CHERESE CLARK
Principal, Pleasant Hill Academy
Cincinnati, Ohio

“Every child deserves the opportunity to come to school and learn, and to be in an environment where they can learn. And, I think that is my biggest role here as the administrator.”

It’s been nearly two decades since Cherese began her career in the Cincinnati public school system – first as a teacher, then as an academic coach, and – finally – as Principal. When she took over Pleasant Hill Academy two years ago, the school had been labeled as an “academic emergency.” In her short tenure, Cherese has helped the school climb to “academic watch,” and hopes for even more improvement in the years to come.

“I’ve had pretty much straight A’s since I came here, except for the first quarter I had one B, a B+. But that was just because I was just getting used to the language and speaking it.”

How did Anne Kuittinen, a student from the small town of Espoo, Finland, end up in Ohio? Call it curiosity, and a desire to learn English – which the 16-year-old calls the “language of the world.” Although she already speaks some English – in addition to Spanish, Swedish and German – Kuittinen says she loves languages and hopes to use them in her career. Living in the United States, she says, proved to be a memorable experience. Anne became close with her host family, the Kiplingers, and continues to speak with them regularly. As for her school experience, Kuittinen says it was also an easy adjustment – perhaps a little too easy. Although she earned straight A’s at Olentangy High School, which is rated as excellent, Anne is now redoing her junior year at home in Finland. Why? Because the Finnish school system, which consistently ranks at the top of international tests of math and science, doesn’t accept credits from America.

“Right now you’re up all night thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I not cover?’ So the closer it gets to testing the pressure is tough.”

A teacher for 13 years in the Cincinnati Public School System, last year marked Johnson’s first at Pleasant Hill. Although the job is challenging at times, Johnson says she loves to teach and most nights, she goes home happy. The mother of one says she applied to Pleasant Hill because of its new teacher training program – called TAP – which allows her to spend 90 minutes a week with mentors reviewing lesson plans and strategizing. Last year, her hard work paid off – with nearly all her students passing the writing portion of Ohio’s standardized test, called the OAT.

“(In) most schools you just sit down and read a book, but here you’re like actually hands-on, making videos, and actually doing like real-live stuff.”

She’s only 16 years old, and Lupe Medina is already taking college-level classes at Metro, a unique public school outside Columbus. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Lupe hasn’t yet decided on a career path, but is considering biomedical engineering. Next year, she’ll be enrolled in courses at Ohio State University.

DeJANE DANIEL
First-year student, Metro High School
Columbus, Ohio

“It’s hard sometimes, though, because in a normal school you have a C, you can pass, but here you have to have an A. Sometimes that gets annoying, but at certain times, you know, you want to brag. You’re like, “I got an A in everything,” and you can literally say that because you have to.”

At Metro, she’s studying Chinese, American literature and algebra II/trigonometry. To get to and from Metro, she takes two public buses – a commute that consumes four hours of her day. DeJane says she’s not sure what career she will pursue, but that taking college classes before she finishes high school will help her to decide what’s right for her. And the earlier she decides, she says, the brighter her future looks.

SCHOOLS:

Pleasant Hill Academy
In the diverse College Hill area outside Cincinnati, Pleasant Hill Elementary is part of a federally funded pilot program to improve teacher quality, called TAP. At this high poverty school, each teacher spends 90 minutes a week with a “master teacher” to help improve his or her lesson plan. “I have seen some of my veteran teachers blossom,” says Principal Cherese Clark. Teachers are also eligible for a bonus for improving students’ outcomes. Part of the evaluation is based on test scores on the all-important yearly state test, the OAT, used for NCLB reporting. To help improve student success, Pleasant Hill also offers on-site mental health services through a program called Ready To Learn. Principal Clark says these services are important in low-income schools.

“A number of them are in foster care,” says Clark. “We have some children that are from homes where they’ve suffered abuse. There may be drug abuse going on in the home. They need assistance and guidance and support here at school.”

Belpre
Belpre High School sits in Ohio’s rural Appalachian region on the border of West Virginia. About 40 percent of the kids in the Belpre School District are economically disadvantaged, and only a quarter of its high school students go on to study at four-year colleges. Belpre has experienced the transition of globalization firsthand with factories closing and jobs moving overseas. The town faces serious financial strains because of a change in the tax structure. Remaining factories, such as two plastics manufacturers, were granted tax breaks by the state legislature, resulting in a serious shortfall for the school district. The district’s superintendent, Harry Fleming, applied for a state grant to bring in a Chinese language teacher to the school, hoping that he could give the students something that would help them get jobs. “Mandarin is the one of the most widely spoken languages in the world,” says Fleming. “We know the growing economy in China is probably going to play more and more of a role in our society. It seemed like a good thing to pursue.”

Metro
Metro High School is an alternative public high school focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). It was founded by the Ohio State University, a research and development company, Batelle, and several Columbus area school districts. Interested students apply and enter a lottery from 16 school districts. The school is diverse and about 40 percent of its students are low-income. There are no bells, lockers, or blackboards at the school, which started three years ago. Each grade has about 100 students. The curriculum favors hands-on learning in all disciplines. Each student is expected to master a subject before he or she moves on, allowing the student to take as long as is needed until he or she learns the material. Students can finish their requirements and begin taking college classes while still in high school. Principal Marcy Raymond says being different, flexible and fostering collaboration is imperative to helping students learn. “Every kid can learn,” says Raymond. “I don’t think there’s anyone here that can’t do that if given the right strategies and the right amount of time. We say we are a small school with a big footprint.”

Metro has run into opposition from officials in surrounding districts who argue it should be considered a charter school, and that students who want to attend it should pay tuition. This conflict is an example of just how tough it is to innovate within the existing school system.

Olentangy
Olentangy is the fastest growing school district in the fastest growing region in the state of Ohio. It is an affluent school district whose schools are consistently rated excellent. Olentangy High School offers 15 Advanced Placement classes and many electives. More than 90 percent of its students go on to higher education. And the district has just opened a new high school, it’s third. Principal Mindy Farry is proud of the school and its students’ success. “We’ve got just a bevy of academic courses, as well as other things students can dabble in, whether it’s fine arts or performing arts, or industrial technology,” says Farry. “We have mentorship programs. We also have a special needs department and intervention specialists working with some of our special needs students. There’s a little bit of a spot for everyone here, so they can get whatever they need to get them prepared for college.”

It’s a political truism – one with evidence in more than half a century of Presidential contests. Since 1960, every elected President has won the state. But Ohio’s political history is not why we chose it as the main location for “WHERE WE STAND.” Instead, we chose it because – as much as one state can – it seemed to best represent the American educational experience. Ohio is the most densely populated state in the Midwest, and its geographic diversity – which ranges from the more affluent suburbs of Columbus to the rural, economically-strained swathes of Appalachia – makes for an extremely varied school system.

In addition, Ohio’s political and educational leaders are putting a major emphasis on improving that system. Specifically, they want to prepare Ohio’s students to compete in a global economy.

According to the Ohio Board of Education, “The future of Ohio’s economy depends on the ability to develop a world-class work force and changes are needed within the (K-12) education system to be successful in this endeavor.”

It’s an aggressive approach to education – but one that’s producing results. In the past 20 years, the state’s schools have risen from a ranking in the middle of the nation, to 7th. Student test scores have improved by 25 percent, and the number of fourth-graders who passed the state reading test has almost doubled to 80 percent.

OHIO – Quick Facts:
It has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country: 7.2%, compared to the national average 5.7% (July 2008)
Number of local school districts: 614
Number of schools: 4,012
Number of students: 1,839,683
Number of charter schools: 316

“Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained. But what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them. Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity.” – Sen. John McCain, 9/5/08 Republican National Convention

Where Sen. John McCain Stands on the Issues:

School Choice: The issue of school choice has proven a cornerstone of McCain’s educational strategy. McCain says that he and his wife decided to send their children to parochial school, and now he wants to ensure that all parents can have the same freedom.

No Child Left Behind: McCain believes there should be an emphasis on standards and accountability, but that the goal of standardized testing should not be group averages. Instead, the focus should be to inspire every child to strive to reach his or her potential

Teachers: McCain believes the single biggest challenge in turning around a failing school is getting quality teachers into that school. To overcome this challenge, John McCain will:

Encourage Alternative Certification Methods That Open The Door For Highly Motivated Teachers To Enter The Field. McCain will devote five percent of Title II funding to states to recruit teachers who graduate in the top 25 percent of their class or who participate in an alternative teacher recruitment program such as Teach for America, the New York City Teaching Fellowship Program, the New Teacher Project, or excellent university initiatives.

Provide Bonuses For Teachers Who Locate In Underperforming Schools And Demonstrate Strong Leadership As Measured By Student Improvement. McCain will devote 60 percent of Title II funding for incentive bonuses for high performing teachers to locate in the most challenging educational settings, for teachers to teach subjects like math and science, and for teachers who demonstrate student improvement. Payments will be made directly to teachers. Funds should also be devoted to provide performance bonuses to teachers who raise student achievement and enhance the school-wide learning environment. Principals may also consider other issues in addition to test scores such as peer evaluations, student subgroup improvements, or being removed from the state’s “in need of improvement” list.

Provide Funding For Needed Professional Teacher Development. Where federal funds are involved, teacher development money should be used to enhance the ability of teachers to perform in today’s technology driven environment. We need to provide teachers with high quality professional development opportunities with a primary focus on instructional strategies that address the academic needs of their students. The first 35 percent of Title II funding would be directed to the school level so principals and teachers could focus these resources on the specific needs of their schools.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: The Opportunity Scholarship program serves more than 1,900 students from families with an average income of $23,000 a year. More than 7,000 more families have applied for that program. The budget for the Opportunity Scholarships is currently $13 million. John McCain believes that this extremely successful program should expand to at least $20 million benefiting nearly a thousand more families.

High Quality Tutoring Programs: Local school districts can certify education service providers but providers can also bypass the local bureaucracy and receive direct federal certification. Education service providers can then market directly to parents. Title I money will be directed straight to the provider.

Expanding Virtual Learning: By Reforming The “Enhancing Education Through Technology Program.” John McCain will target $500 million in current federal funds to build new virtual schools and support the development of online course offerings for students. These courses may be for regular coursework, for enhancement, or for dual enrollment into college.

John McCain Will Allocate $250 Million Through A Competitive Grant Program To Support States That Commit To Expanding Online Education Opportunities. States can use these funds to build virtual math and science academies to help expand the availability of AP Math, Science, and Computer Sciences courses, online tutoring support for students in traditional schools, and foreign language courses.

John McCain Will Offer $250 Million For Digital Passport Scholarships To Help Students Pay For Online Tutors Or Enroll In Virtual Schools. Low-income students will be eligible to receive up to $4,000 to enroll in an online course, SAT/ACT prep course, credit recovery or tutoring services offered by a virtual provider. Providers could range from other public schools, virtual charter schools, home school parents utilizing virtual schooling resources or district or state sponsored virtual schools. The Department of Education would competitively award the funds to a national scholarship administrator who would manage the student applications, monitoring, and evaluation of providers.

““Just as with energy independence and health care, the urgency of upgrading public education for the 21st century has been talked to death in Washington, but not much has gotten done. And that failure to act has put our nation in jeopardy. I believe the day of reckoning is here. Our — our children and our country can’t afford four more years of neglect and indifference.

The decisions our leaders make about education in the coming years will shape our future for generations to come. They will help determine not only whether our children have the chance to fulfill their God-given potential or whether our workers have the chance to build a better life for their families, but whether we as a nation will remain in the 21st century the kind of global economic leader that we were in the 20th century.”

– Sen. Barack Obama, 9/8/08 in Dayton, Ohio

Where Sen. Barack Obama Stands on the Issues:

No Child Left Behind: Obama has repeatedly criticized the 2002 legislation, adopting the slogan: Left the Money Behind and Left the Students Behind. While Obama praises NCLB’s emphasis on accountability, he argues that the law was an unfunded mandate – inadequately implemented by the Education Department. Obama has pledged to reform the law – beginning with additional funding. He will also improve the assessments used to track student progress and improve NCLB’s accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.

Zero to Five Plan: Obama’s “Zero to Five” plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents – placing key emphasis on early care and education for infants. Obama will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state “zero to five” efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school. In addition, Obama will expand early Head Start, increase Head Start funding, and improve quality for both. Finally, he pledges to provide affordable, high-quality child care for working families.

Math and Science Education: Obama plans to make math and science education a national priority. He pledges to recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. He will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.

Address the Dropout Crisis: Obama will pass his legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school – strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time.

Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children.

Expand Summer Learning Opportunities: Obama’s “STEP UP” plan addresses the achievement gap by supporting summer learning opportunities for disadvantaged children through partnerships between local schools and community organizations.

Support College Outreach Programs: Obama supports outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound to encourage more young people from low-income families to consider and prepare for college.

Support English Language Learners: Obama supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school.

Teachers: When it comes to teachers, Obama’s plan includes several initiatives. Among them:

Recruiting Teachers: Obama will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.

Preparing Teachers: Obama will require all schools of education to be accredited. He will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.

Retaining Teachers: To support our teachers, Obama’s plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. He will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.

Rewarding Teachers: Obama will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.

Higher Education: Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year’s tax data to deliver the credit when tuition is due.

Financial Aid: Obama will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application.

It was exactly 25 years ago that President Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education released a report that shattered any notion that America’s schools were performing well.

The report – Nation at Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform – came to a disturbing conclusion: our education system was falling behind the rest of the world.

“Our Nation is at risk,” the report stated. “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”

The 18 members of the Commission made 38 recommendations for reform, divided across 5 major categories: Content, Standards and Expectations, Time, Teaching, Leadership and Fiscal Support. These recommendations set off a series of efforts on a local, state and federal level.

It was not the first time, of course, that America’s schools had come under such scrutiny. In 1957 when the Soviets launched Sputnik – the first space satellite – it set off a wave of paranoia. That wave resulted in a major push to improve our schools, and a dozen years later one of our greatest accomplishments as a nation: sending a man to the moon.

How have our schools fared since these wake-up calls? And are we still a nation at risk?

Some of the facts about education in America today, many of which are presented in WHERE WE STAND, argue that in many ways, we are. While the U.S. still leads the world as an economic power and innovator, other countries are fast catching up. And when it comes to education, many of them have already surpassed us. America once had the best high school graduation rate, but it has now fallen below 15th among industrialized nations. Our 15-year-olds perform below average in math, science, and problem-solving.

Earlier this year, Education Week published its annual Report Card, which included a portion titled: “A Stagnant Nation: Why American Students are Still at Risk.” Its conclusion? The obstacle to reforms in our schools is political, and ‘vigorous national leadership’ is needed to improve education.

“We’re acting like our jobs are not going to leave, and that we’re going to be able to compete in a global market with a second class education in America – and that day is over,” says Geoffrey Canada, President and Founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone. “We’ve allowed the rest of the world to get ahead of us.”